


From the Ashes

by zara2148



Category: Frankenstein & Related Fandoms, Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Victor's more of a presence felt than a charcter, Warning: first written when i was a high schooler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 23:39:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9465752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zara2148/pseuds/zara2148
Summary: Unable to die, the monster returns to Victor's hometown, and finds something he wasn't expecting. A friend, in the form of Ernest Frankenstein.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so just a little bit of background information before you get into this:
> 
> I wrote this fanfic in my sophomore or junior year of highschool (so around eight or so years ago), a few months after we had read Frankenstein and I had fallen in love with it. I was bored in class one day and just started writing it, and I posted it on ffn.net. There are a few inconsistencies with the novel because of that (My second rereading of Frankenstein in college reminded me that there was a point where fire harmed the Creature, and I believe Ernest is actually meant to be older than I've written him here, some unspecified preteen age). And much as I loved the novel I believed it to be beyond my talent to mimic its cadence and tone, so I didn't even try.
> 
> Still, I'm posting it here, years later, partly for posterity's sake, partly because it's still a fic I love even if I'm not that high schooler any more, and mainly because I've fallen back in love with Frankenstein again and had to. There's just not enough fic for the novel. Also, Ernest Frankenstein needs more love, guys.
> 
> So with that warning label/explanation, let's begin.

_It had been hard enough to set the pyre alight, much less find the wood to do so._

_Finally, though, he had a good-sized fire going. He lay there among the flames, waiting for the end to come and for the sweet embrace of death to claim him._

_But all he felt was a mild discomfort. Fire, it seemed, could not harm him._

_A howl of anguish escaped him. Not only was he doomed to live his life alone, he wasn't even granted the mercy of ending it…_

* * *

 

Wandering aimlessly, the monster glanced at the town's buildings around him. 

It was a small town. A peaceful town.

And the town his creator had once called home.

 _But it'll never be your home,_ a traitorous part of his mind whispered. _And you know it._

Yet he had been drawn here, like a moth to the flame. Compelled to risk the enmity of others with only a hooded cloak for protection. Why?

_Because you have nowhere else to go._

"STOP! THIEF!"

Startled out of his thoughts, the monster turned and watched as a boy raced around the corner, carrying a loaf of bread. A fat baker followed after, falling behind the boy with each step.

It looked as if the boy was about to make a clean getaway. But he made the mistake of looking back over his shoulder, and therefore failed to notice the bump in the road…

The monster winced as the boy tripped, sprawling on the ground. The baker caught up to him, and pulled him up by the scruff of his neck.

"Now you're going to get it, you little –"

"Is there a problem here?"

The baker gulped nervously as the monster approached him. Though the cloak he wore concealed his more repulsive features, it could not hide his massive stature.

The monster stopped in front of him. "Well?"

Nervously, the baker stuttered, "T-this whelp s-stole a loaf of bread from me."

Said 'whelp' had ducked behind the monster, desperately clutching the loaf of bread. He looked like he hadn't had a decent meal in weeks.

The monster failed to understand why the baker couldn't see that the boy needed the bread more than he did. But the monster did know how to solve it, how everything was solved in society.

Reaching into his pocket, he took out a handful of coins. "I pray that this will be enough?"

Greedily, the baker snatched up the coins. "It'll do," he said as he walked away, the boy forgotten.

The monster made a move to walk away as well, but a small voice stopped him.

"Thank you."

Unaccustomed to gratitude, the monster turned back to look at the boy. The boy returned his gaze blindly, hidden as it was by the cloak, not meeting it with any visible sign of fear.

They stood there for a while, just staring at each other. Eventually the boy remembered the loaf of bread he still had, and deemed it more important than trying to catch sight of a hooded visage. He broke off a piece and shoveled it into his mouth.

The spell thus broken, the monster recovered his wits enough to ask, "What's your name, boy?"

In between bites of bread, the boy answered, "Ernest, sir. Ernest Frankenstein."

The monster barely concealed his shock. Frankenstein… it couldn't be a coincidence that the boy had the same last name as his creator. Now that he looked carefully, there was definitely more than a passing resemblance between this boy and his creator. He had to be some sort of relation to the man, without a doubt.

It was not murderous rage but a weary annoyance that simmered within him. Not even death would stop Victor from taunting him. Did the man's obsession know no bounds?

As he finished the bread, Ernest looked up at the monster again. "Excuse me, sir, but I don't believe that I caught your name?"

The monster grunted. "I'm afraid that I don't have one." 

"Oh." Though he looked sorrowful for a moment, Ernest cheered almost immediately. "Then I'll just have to give you one, now won't I?" The boy thought for a few moments. "How do you feel about… Adam?"

The monster grunted again in response. Ernest grinned. "Adam it is, then."

Adam, as he was now called, turned and walked away. After a few seconds, Ernest began to follow him.

Adam did nothing to stop him.

**Author's Note:**

> I think I might want to edit the next two parts a bit before posting them - just tweak some words, make it prettier, maybe add some info I had in the back of my mind that I never clarified.


End file.
